14th - Good bye (Tam Biet) to Vung Tau. The place certainly livened up late Saturday and into the night. The hotel folk said Saturday afternoon and Sunday are the busy times of the week with April and May the really busy school holiday times. My suggestion is not between May and November. This is the humid, hot and usually wet time - not so much rain this year.
Booked out of hotel, paid our dues, quick taxi ride to the ferry terminal and back onto the fast ferry. I expected it to be relatively empty being Sunday morning but it was packed. Interestingly we had the same young hostess on this trip as we had on the trip down on Thursday. A great mix of passengers from locals, kids, more sophisticated men and women, and us. Uneventful trip back but blown away by the river traffic again - large cargo ships, powered barges, all sorts of other cargo boats, fishing boats large and small amazing array of vessels.
As we were heading to Tay Ninh today we had arranged for a car to pick us up from the ferry and take us there. The car was arranged by the hotel and just like on Thursday they sent the car to the old ferry terminal so it ended up being an hour late in picking us up with a driver who was not so impressed.
The trip to Tay Ninh took just over 2 hours dodging bikes, cars, trucks and busses. Roberta is not getting accustomed to the traffic with seemingly disaster at every turn of the wheel. The landscape changed from shops and eateries in Ho Chi Minh City to small and large factories to rice paddies and water buffalo. All the time are bikes, bike shops, bike mechanics, bike tyre shops and just more bikes.
Tay Ninh did not disappoint. While it is a largish centre it is what we were looking for. Ho Chi Minh City is a crazy jumble of the new and the old, cosmopolitan and traditional; Vung Tau is a "typical" seaside holiday place not un-like a Hervey Bay, with its Ned Kelly's Bar and Matilda's catering for the Australian visitors or ex-pats.
Tay Ninh is a modern small city undergoing renovation and expansion. Not a tourist place at all. After we checked into our hotel we too a walk up and down the street and ended up in a shopping centre. Well this place was spot the European white folk. There were 2 we saw - Roberta and me. Not another have we seen since we came to town. In the shopping centre we were greeted with startled looks and welcoming smiles. Little children stared and at times hid. This is Vietnam. Not the country or the bush but real Vietnamese city folk. We look forward to getting around tomorrow but it appears English speaking may be very limited so should be fun.